Don't doubt school director candidates; sometimes the best canidate is one who never got the chance

It may be easy for some critics of the candidates for school director of Metro Nashville public schools to downplay their credentials, but it remains a truth in all professions that some people just need a chance to prove themselves.

That certainly was the case when I was trying to write on politics. And a Gannett newspaper in upstate New York took a chance on me and believed column clips from inside a TV magazine were good enough.

I am most appreciative of Gannett and the publisher and editor there who hired me. And I hope I proved their decision a wise one. And from there, I came to Nashville to be a columnist in 1996 and won national, non Gannett writing awards from the University of Maryland's Casey Center(twice), Education Writers Association in D.C(three times), Religion Communicators Conncil in NY, NY(twice) and the Will Rogers Humanitarian Award from the National Society of Newspaper Columnists.

So give the school director candidates a chance. You may be surprised.